This 2000 home movie segment captures a singular attraction at the Fort Davis National Historic Site: a demonstration of the United States Camel Corps. In the mid-nineteenth century, the United States Army experimented using camels as pack animals for travel throughout the Southwest. Camp Verde in Kerr County was the official camel station, with camels going on expeditions to a number of other Southwest posts, including Fort Davis. The Army ended the experiment in 1866. In this footage, a camel handler dressed in the Camel Corps uniform leads and rides a Bactrian camel named Gobi around the grounds of the Fort Davis National Historic Site while tourists asks questions and take pictures.

Brevet Major General Persifor Frazer Smith established Fort Davis in October 1854. Named after Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, the fort is one of the last remaining frontier military posts in the Southwest. The primary goal of the post was to guide travelers through the San Antonio-El Paso Road and to fight the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache Tribes along the way. However, the federal government ordered the evacuation of the fort at the start of the Civil War. For the next six years, Fort Davis underwent periods of Confederate occupation, Union occupation, and total desertion. In 1867, Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Merritt and the 9th Cavalry took over the fort and built new accommodations and structures. At its height, it held over 100 structures and housed over 400 troops. However, in 1880, Colonel Bemjamin Grierson of the 10th Cavalry led the last raid against the Apaches and their leader Victorio into Mexico, signaling the end of the Indian Wars in Texas. By 1891, Fort Davis outlived its purpose and was left abandoned. Today is it on the National Registry of Historic Places and remains a frequently visited tourist attraction.

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